How You Know When It's Time To Lawyer Up

Like it or not, when you own a business it is inventible that at some point in time, you’re going to need the help of an attorney.

It isn’t as bad as it sounds, because not every legal matter means you’re getting sued left and right by every customer who comes along. The bottom line, a lot of problems or customer issues could easily be averted if you consult with an attorney first.

Most problems arise in small or startup businesses because the owner wasn’t properly prepared for them or simply wasn’t aware of a legal procedure or protocol.

In other words, there’s plenty of normal day to day business where it’s just helpful to have a lawyer.

Contract development and review

Almost all business activity today requires some sort of a contractual agreement. The days of a smile and friendly handshake in order to seal a deal are sadly over.

When developing your contract you have to consider state and federal laws and regulations and develop a contract that fully protects you and your client. Otherwise it’s just a useless piece of paper and not worth the ink it’s printed with.

A corporate attorney is aware of all of the ins and outs of owning a business, writing a decent contract and where the potential pitfalls may be.

They will also know all of the government regulations or contractual law and help you write the correct and exact contract to suit your business needs.

Tax issues

Most people think of a bookkeeper or accountant when it comes to tax issues or disputes. But an attorney is going to help you in a number of ways. When you’re a small business, you’re not going to have professional bookkeeping help and probably are going to have to file on your own.

But an attorney will help you in a number of ways when you’re filing taxes.

A good tax attorney will make you aware of the various local, state and federal taxes you may not even know about. Checkout the internet for more information on legal issues and tax. They’ll be able to tell you what taxes are due quarterly and which ones are paid on an annual basis.

They can also review your filings to make certain every duck is in a row and everything is correctly filed.

Contract disputes

As your customer list expands with your business, there will probably come a time when one of them disputes all or a portion of your contract.

This isn’t the end of world, nor does it imply that you have shoddy business practices. Contracts are agreements between people after all, and people have individual personalities and not all them are pleasant-the more customers you have, the more likely you’re going to run into at least one tough apple along the way.

A good lawyer will help you keep this dispute in its proper perspective.

An attorney can help review the contract and the agreement to determine if there really was an error made on your part or if you’re just dealing with a hard nose. They can also mediate or negotiate a settlement to the dispute, before it gets out of hand.

Author's Bio:

An online marketer and internet entrepreneur. Background in software and tech startups